PDF - Engineering & Science - California Institute of Technology

ALTECH BROKE a long-'tariciir~g tradition when it
actrnitted its first female -tilrif-nt in IQS?. Th(sre
had been ladies in the school in the days when it MS
a coeducational institution kr~ovyn as Throop ['rliler-
-ity and Throop Polytechnic Fn-titute. of courqe; in
fact. there was esen a department of dorne-stir science
in those clays. But after the move to it< pieserit campus
in 1910 the In-titiite began to concentrate on engineer-
ing. and -'rieiiw. and men only.
Ft was an eictraordirlary situation that caused Dorothy
'\titi Semenou to apply for graduate v>ork in chemistry
at (.altf (41 in 1953 and it took extraordiriar~ action by
the (.altcch fartilt't and board of timtee' to admit her,
Mi-" Semenos na-i at MIT at the tirw. (loins grra1ua.t~
work under t h direction ~ of John I). Robert'. %heti Dr.
A progress report on the female population in the Caltech student body
Roberts accepted a position at Caltech as professor of
organic chemistry. Mi-" Sernenow a-iked to tip tiansferred
here with him so that ¡h could continup with her research.
ft took a change of Institute policy to grant her
request.
The admission of Miss Serneriow didn't exactly break
the log-jam and flood the rarnpuq ~iith woneri; the entrance
requirements that were set for female graduate
students took care of that. The Institute accepts only
"women of exceptional ability who give promise of great
scientific contributionq." and. before she can enroll. a
woman has to get the approval of the committee on
graduate study. and of ihe academic division in which
she intend* to work. With restrictions like this, it is
riot q~irpriqirig to find that only five women graduate